The 1/4 mile dragstrip and 1.8 mile road course opened in 1987.
A 1/2 mile dirt oval operated from 1987-1989.
A 3/8 mile dirt oval operated from 1990 to 1996, when it
was torn down and the current 3/4 mile paved oval was built in its place
(the paved oval opened on June 5th, 1998.)
A 1/8 mile dirt oval operated in 1992 and 1993.
A 1/4 mile dirt oval operated from 1998 to 2005
using a former kart track.

This track (or various parts of it)
has operated under the names Memphis Dirt Trax,
Memphis International Motorsports Park,
Blankenship Motorsports Park,
and Memphis Round Track.

This 'Hot Lap' was originally written by Norm Floyd and updated
for 2005
by Chris Ingle. You can see great in-car video of this and many other
tracks at
http://www.tracktapes.com/.

Memphis Motorsports Park is a 1.8 mile facility with virtually no
elevation change. It is located in Northern Memphis along with
several other racing venues such as a dirt and paved oval track. The
.7 mile front straightaway is also the Drag Strip plus shutdown areas,
so cars with good straight line speed traditionally do well here. The
pavement has moderate grip, but the 'road course' portion is very
bumpy with several patches right in the braking zones. The big bump
exiting turn 8 (where the asphalt joins the concrete at the beginning
of the drag strip burnout area) is now much smoother and most drivers
can just keep the throttle planted coming through there.

If you can set your car up a little loose for qualifying and neutral
for the race. Slightly loose if fast here, but will burn up your rear
tires quickly.

Memphis was designed to represent a sample of several types of race
circuits. Turns 1 & 2 ("the carousel" - actually one long sweeper)
are slightly banked. They and the front straight emulate an oval
track. Turns 3 and 4 ("the kink" and "the M's"; actually a left -
right - left - right - left chicane) are like a traditional road (some
say autocross) course. Turns 5 & 6 (the "double 90's") represent an
airport course. Turns 7 & 8 ("Grant's Tomb", and "the wall")
imitate a street circuit with their concrete walls and sequential 90
degree rights.

Start / Finish is about 1/4 mile into the front straight, so you
should be in 4th gear when you go by. This is a great time to check
the gauges and the mirrors because when you get into the actual road
course part, you are busy! Turn 1 is a lot farther away than it looks
(almost 1/2 mi.) so just hammer down and keep it straight. You can
either stay in 4th gear and run the rpms up to 7K or shift to 5th and
conserve the car more. I tend to stay in 4th and eliminate the shift,
but still hit about 150 mph!

Try to stay just left of the center of the track because there is
quite a bit of junk near the left wall. The braking zone is
reasonably smooth and you can brake quite late. If your rivals brake
in a straight line, you can brake at an angle (right) toward turn 1
and take the corner away. If you are by yourself though, you'll want
to use all the track so stay left and brake in a straight line.
Heel-toe shift to 3rd. Turn 1 is a long, sweeping, banked right turn.
There is a lot of rubber build-up at the edge of the corner so I enter
it about two-thirds away from the left edge. You can let the car
scrub speed if you need to and just use the throttle mostly for
steering corrections. Pull it down toward the inside until you get to
the apex which is very late. The turn does tighten up quite a bit so
experiment with different apex points. Squeeze the throttle, open the
wheel and aim toward the patch of "new" asphalt on the outside at
the exit. If you do it right, you should be full throttle by the exit.
Shift 3-4.

Keep the wheel slightly turned and that will take you to the apex of
turn 2, which is more of a fast right-hand kink than a turn. You
should be able to take it flat out! You'll now be going slightly down
hill and should try to get to the right quickly for Turn 3. It's
imperative you keep your head and eyes up through this entire section
- not only for speed and smoothness, but to watch for cars spinning
in front you too!!

Turn 3 is just a left-kink and most cars can make it thru there wide
open - it just takes some practice, and no small amount of guts. Keep
the car turned left and stay on the gas until about 150' before the
FIA curbing on the left. Get the car straight and drive the nose into
the ground when you brake. Heel-toe shift 4 to 3. Turn 4 (entrance
of the esses) is a very sharp, right-hander, and slow - treat it
that way. The entry speed is not near as important as the exit! This
is a right, left, right, left series of turns and is tricky to get
right.

4-B, C, & D is actually the second most important series of turns on
the course, and exit speed is critical. Late apex each turn and don't
overshoot the deceptive 4-C. The curbing thru here is very high
(especially 4C) so stay off - just barely clip them. As soon as you
can, ease the throttle on, and clip the apex of 4-C. At this point you
can pretty well straighten out 4-D and get on the power. If you did
it right, you may well be rewarded with an opportunity to pass someone
down the moderate straight before the 90's. The earlier you can get
on the power means a better top speed down the little straight.

You can either stay right entering the 90's and brake at just about
the f|ag station, or experiment with different approaches. There are
two major patches in this area and they are very bumpy. I found that
about 4 or 5 ft off the right edge worked best for me. It was smooth
enough to still late brake and allowed a decent entrance into turn 5.

Rotate the car slightly and late apex 5, a 90 degree left, then
immediately early apex 6, a 90 degree right. Get back on the power
early and hammer it toward 7. The apex of 5 and outside of 6 is just
artificially limited by cones so you can experiment a little here and
try to get the best launch.

Trail-brake entering 7 just enough to settle the front end and stay
out of the formidable looking tire barrier directly ahead of you. This
is the most important, and dangerous, maneuver at Memphis. Don't
enter the corner too late because the track is slick and there are
plenty of marbles out there. Experiment with different approaches and
find the spot that works best for you. Once you turn, stay right, but
watch for cars entering the pits! The plentiful marbles on the left
are made of wall magnet material and if you get in them, that's where
you'll watch the rest of the race from - the wall! I'm not sure
"stay right, but late apex left" makes sense, but that's what you
should do. Hold neutral throttle and let the car drift as close as
you dare to the left hand wall of "Grant's Tomb" (so named because
the Grant brothers, Richard and Milton both hit it in the inaugural
Memphis race). Roll the throttle down, then center apex 8, clipping
the inside as close as possible on the right. There are tires there
protecting you from the wall just in case you try to apex too close.
(NOTE: GT & Formula cars tend to make this 2 early apex turns with a
short burst of power between 7 & 8. SS, IT, and Production cars mostly
drive it as described.)

Since they've smoothed out the big bump at the apex of 8, you should
be able to plant your right foot (still in 3d gear) and then hammer
down and drift toward the outside wall. Be cautious on the first few
runs thru here. Since the track surface changes, it can still be
slick especially considering this is where the big nitro burning cars
do smoking burnouts!! Also be careful not to get too close to the
wall edge because the pavement literally drops off a bit about 8"
from the wall, and will literally suck you in if you get too close!
You need to carry your best exit speed here as it is the entrance to
that long front straight. Once you straighten out here, shift 3-4 (and
5 maybe), and start checking gauges and mirrors again as you approach
Start / Finish.

F/A's have lapped Memphis in under a minute, but it's extremely
rare. 1:04 will get the pole for most Nationals. GT1's are under 1:10;
SRF's & GP's about 1:20. ITC's usually run in the low 1:30's. In May,
2005, I just set a pole time in my T1 car of 1:11 and raced in the low
1:13s. Enjoy!!!!!